Super Contra World
by WarioMan3K
Summary: DCC #1 of my fanfic series. Five years after the Alien Wars incident, the Four Contras have decided to take a 3-day vacation. The destination: Dinosaur Land, which was strangely reported to have been occupied by the Hate Bombers, revived under the command of a mysterious foe in black armor. OFFICIALLY A NORMAL, CONTRA FIC; RATED T WITH FANTASY VIOLENCE AND MINOR LANGUAGE
1. Prologue

With both The Alien Wars and Wario-Man 64 out of the way, I can finally get started with re-vamping the rest of the Diamond City Chronicles series, starting with DCC #1. Now, as far as its continuity goes, the 3DS and Wii U aren't released yet...at least, not for the next 4 or so months. I know they're already out in real life; just not in my re-vamped series as of DCC #1. The same goes for _Contra ReBirth_ on WiiWare, as well as _WarioWare: DIY_ on the DS (and its WiiWare counterpart).

* * *

-Super Contra World-

Prologue

AMI'S P.O.V.

It hasn't been too long…well, more like a few weeks or so since two of the most bizarre events in history happened: both having to contend with Altair and his soldiers, and working our way around the evil Sirius's twisted amnesiac ray (which, thankfully, wasn't permanent). As of now, Regulus was the only survivor; he warned me and Ami that we would have to settle the score eventually.

All bizarre events aside, it's about time we got ourselves a vacation! Joining alongside both of us within the now-official "Four Contras" are Bill Rizer and Lance Bean. I'll admit: I felt the same way they do; in which they, too, deserve a vacation. We specially need to clear our minds of any and all near-death situations we might have been through over the years...let alone 5 years ago during the Alien Wars. I mean, Bill and Lance already killed Red Falcon and his band of four rogue Bombermen, right?

Oh, and speaking of which, we're taking the experimental "Contra Cruiser" for our trip, which functioned just like Dribble and Spitz's hi-tech taxi cab: it can change into its jet mode (whilst retaining its car-shaped form) at any time, and vice versa.

Speaking of which, _WarioWare: Smooth Moves_ was released on the Nintendo Wii last week, and became a big hit in Diamond City like with the previous WarioWare games. But aside all that, it's vacation time in Dinosaur Land.

END P.O.V.

* * *

**DISCLAIMER: Contra is a property Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; Super Mario World belongs to Nintendo. ****Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is owned by Renegade Animation.** Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.


	2. A vacation gone wrong

The story begins in Dinosaur Land, as seen in the famous _Super Mario World_ on SNES!

**DISCLAIMER: Contra is a property Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; Super Mario World belongs to Nintendo. ****Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is owned by Renegade Animation.** Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

Chapter 1: A vacation gone wrong

June 10, 20XX AD...

A few weeks had passed since the evil King Sirius's demise, but even so, Ami and I of the Four Contras had to go through some training exercises with Bill Rizer and Lance Bean during the world tour. Penny Crygor, on the other hand, modified Ami's Bomberman Watch by and infusing it with holy power, so that her own cartoon bombs never harm the innocent. The only thing exempt from this issue is whatever debris that may have been thrown by the bomb blasts (i.e. walls, trees), which goes to show the old saying: With great power, comes great responsibility. After all, people are well-used to the painfully obvious, that explosives _can harm anyone_ within the blast radius.

In addition to holy-powered bombs, Ami was also given two additional bombs to her watch's arsenal. In other words, the normal bombs she had before are Fire Bombs; whereas the new ones are the freezing Ice Bombs, and the electrical Thunder Bombs. Whichever one she used, the innocent can't be hurt from the blast. Yumi used to have a Bomberman Watch, but decided to return it to Crygor Labs for good, preferring to stick with her trusty guitar and leave the Bomberman-esque action to Ami. As for me, while I did attain an official license to use automatic firearms, it would be a while before I ever get a holy-powered weapon of my own. Ever since we got back from killing Sirius, Penny borrowed the AK-47 machine gun I had as a starting point (although she intends to create what we would call the "Contra Rifle" from scratch). It would be a while before I'm officially ready to lead our own team of four, but it will be worth the effort.

* * *

[Opening BGM: Opening (Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2)]

For now, Bill, Lance, Ami, and I headed off for our vacation spot on board an experimental vehicle, which functioned just like Dribble and Spitz's taxi cab, only it's a sports car. We simply named it the "Contra Cruiser" to best fit our title. Eventually, we arrived at Dinosaur Land, said to house the Yoshis on Yoshi's Island...

"Well," said Ami, "this is the place!"

"This brings back memories of _Super Mario World_ on the SNES." I agreed.

Bill spotted some feather-like items. "Not to mention those Cape Feathers that give people an ability to fly with a yellow cape...or, so it was said."

"Wouldn't hurt to try 'em out," said Lance. "Race you around Yoshi's Island, Bill!"

"Heh." Bill smirked. "You're on, ol' buddy."

"Yep! I feel like a kid again, already!"

* * *

And so, Bill and Lance got the Cape Feather power-ups, and flew around Yoshi's Island, while I helped Ami set up our picnic. Approximately 3 laps around the small area later, the two Contras decided to head back...only to find something amiss.

"Uh-oh..." said Lance. "Uh, Bill?"

Bill landed safely on the surface next to Lance. "What is it, Lance?"

"Weren't our friends here just a few minutes ago?"

"They were; I'm sure of it." Even Bill became suspicious as to what happened. "Hmm…something doesn't seem to add up. The Contra Cruiser's engine is pretty banged up!"

Lance opened the engine to check for damages. "Try frozen – with solid ice! There's only one person we know, capable of doing something like this!"

"Wait a sec..." Bill stopped what he was saying for a moment. "No...it's not possible. It can't be! She and the others are already dead! We kicked their asses nearly 5 years ago!"

With Bill and Lance left as the only witnesses of the sudden kidnappings, they could only pinpoint the assault, including the frozen engine, towards Arctic Bomber, the self-proclaimed "Mistress of the Cold" and only female of the Hate Bombers. But, how she, along with the other three, came back to life was a different story...one that we were all about to find out during our 3-day vacation.

[End BGM]

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Chapter 1 has come and gone, but we're just getting started! Alright, so maybe "Contra Cruiser" is a bit cliché for a vehicle's nickname. But hey, some heroes need a form of transportation when they can't fly themselves, right?


	3. Return of Arctic Bomber

Time sure flies, doesn't it? Well, despite both my usual personal life outside the Internet and large activity on DeviantART, I'm trying my best not to lose my interest in rewriting my Diamond City Chronicles series on here, and to not let the writer's block prevent me from doing so. I can't promise everything, but it doesn't mean I won't do what I can to make my stories understandable and enjoyable.

**DISCLAIMER: Contra is a property Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; Super Mario World belongs to Nintendo. ****Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is owned by Renegade Animation.** Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

Chapter 2: Return of Arctic Bomber

[Stage BGM: Jungle 1 (Contra 4)]

_Mission 1: Yoshi's Island  
Bill and Lance, after having deduced the possibility that Arctic Bomber was behind the kidnappings, had decided to explore Yoshi's Island.  
However, it is unknown as to whether Red Falcon really came back to life or not, just because the Hate Bombers were sighted.  
June 10, 20XX  
2:30 PM_

"So, where do we start?" asked Bill.

"Maybe the Yoshis would know…if we ever find one," answered Lance. "Didn't Bowser stuff them into these spotted eggs in Super Mario World?"

Before they could finish their conversation, they were attacked by a pair of robot thugs, each armed with a machine gun. Since Bill and Lance didn't bring their M16 machine guns along for the vacation, they'd probably have to swipe the ones from the thugs. The only downside is: unlike their own machine guns, the thugs' assault rifles were just plain ordinary. In other words, Bill and Lance wouldn't be able to acquire any fancy power-ups from the Contra series like they normally could. That meant no Spread Guns, no Laser Beams, etc., even if they do come across some power-up pods within Dinosaur Land.

"Hey! Don't you muscly misfits know that this is mistress Arctic Bomber's territory?" demanded one of the robot thugs.

Rather than feel threatened, Bill replied sarcastically, "Oh, we're _so_ sorry, we didn't know that." Then he grabbed the thug by the gun, and threw him across the field. Lance did the same for the other guy. Afterwards, they both swiped the machine guns, and shot the robots up to pieces.

"Nice snarky comeback, Billy," said Lance. "These AK-47s should be useful for us."

Just then, Lance stopped what he was saying, when he saw a rather large egg that the two robots coughed up after they exploded. The egg hatched, unveiling a green Yoshi. The moment the two Contras asked him about the situation at hand, all he could say was "Yoshi." Apparently, his kind didn't speak English, although they could write it out in order to translate for visitors. Bill handed him a notepad and a pencil; he then wrote what he was trying to say:

"Hi! Thanks for rescuing me from those nasty robots. My name's Yoshi. I went out earlier today to try and save all my friends who were taken prisoner by a dark-armored robot named Malicious Bomber, but I got defeated along the way and had been trapped in this egg since."

Upon reading the words "Malicious Bomber", Bill and Lance became confused. "I don't remember us facing off against Malicious Bomber," said Bill. "But even if that were true, that still doesn't explain why the Hate Bombers – let alone Arctic Bomber – came back from the dead, 5 years after we killed them."

"Maybe Red Falcon's got some identity issues," said Lance, "But anyway, we gotta get moving. We won't find our answers just by standing around. I just hope our buddies aren't hurt…"

* * *

With guidance from the green Yoshi, Bill and Lance hiked their way throughout the grassland and a nearby lake, eventually stopping at a small castle by a bridge, which connected from Yoshi's Island to the majority of Dinosaur Land. Near the entrance to the castle was a sign, which read:

_Are you single? Handsome? Need a girlfriend? You've come to the right place! I promise I won't bite…maybe!_

_~Arctic Bomber, Mistress of the Cold_

After reading the sign, Bill and Lance became crept out, especially if it were talking about me. Yoshi, on the other hand, was somehow afraid of creepy-looking castles, and decided to wait outside. The two Contras thought it to be the sole reason why Yoshis were unusable in such areas back in _Super Mario World_, and didn't blame Yoshi for his phobia. Henceforth, they entered the castle, made short work of the robot soldiers and snipers along the way, and reached a room with a tilting island-like platform on a pool of lava. Arctic Bomber was standing on it, with Ami tied up in a ceiling-mounted cage.

[End BGM]  
[Boss BGM: Koopa Kid Battle (Super Mario World)]

"Well, well," said Arctic Bomber, "I didn't expect to see you two again after these 5 years. You might be wondering: why did I kidnap that pink-haired friend of yours instead of the guy with glasses. Here's the answer: I _did_ capture him, too, but since he rudely refused to become my boyfriend so I'd free her, I had him locked up in my other castle!"

"You…_deluded bitch_!" shouted Lance. "Where'd you lock up our friend, Aaron?"

"I'll never tell! If you wanna find out that bad, let alone save Ami, then you'll have to fight me for it!"

The Mistress of the Cold attacked by jumping around the rocky platform to tilt its sides, hoping that Bill and Lance would lose their balances and fall into the lava. She followed up by firing some ice shards from her hands, hurting the Contras a bit. They retaliated by splitting up to cover each side of the platform, eventually cornering Arctic Bomber. Bill grabbed her by the shoulder, while Lance came to him in order to weigh down the side of the platform. Then Bill let go of the deluded ice princess, causing her to fall on her rear end. When the edge of the platform touched the lava, Arctic Bomber yelped in pain as it burned her a bit.

"YEOW!" she screamed. "MY BUTT!"

The rogue Bomber-girl ran around the platform, conjuring up an icy wind to cool down her now sore bottom. She stamped her feet in a temper tantrum, and jumped off the arena to make her escape.

"Round 1 goes to you clowns, but I still have Aaron as my prisoner! You'll regret the day you humiliated me!"

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" shouted Ami, as she broke free of the ropes and blasted the cage open with her Fire Bombs.

[End BGM]

* * *

Despite Arctic Bomber's escape, Bill and Lance were happy to have rescued Ami, along with a large egg that held one of Yoshi's friends captive. They made their way back outside the castle, and came across a magic plunger. Ami jumped on it, setting off an explosion that destroyed one of Arctic Bomber's two castles. The group would then cross the bridge to the next destination: Donut Plains.

However, their trip was going to be a cold one in a matter of minutes. If Ami, Bill, and Lance could defeat Arctic Bomber for good and rescue me, everything would be just fine for the time being.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

You can probably tell the next chapter's gonna take place in a winter wonderland of what was Donut Plains to begin with. However, I think I ought to wait until after the end of October, since it's already close to Halloween as we speak; not to mention the story's not even horror-themed to begin with. :3

Either way, reviews are appreciated as always!


	4. More like Winter Un-wonderland!

Next chapter with Arctic Bomber at the helm as the "first boss", coming up! Enjoy =)

**DISCLAIMER: Contra is a property Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; Super Mario World belongs to Nintendo. ****Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is owned by Renegade Animation.** Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

Chapter 3: More like Winter Un-wonderland!

Meanwhile, at a faraway ice castle in Donut Plains, Arctic Bomber spent some time fuming about her recent loss against the two Contras. She thought she had the upper hand during that battle on the tilting island-like platform; unfortunately, she didn't expect Bill and Lance to be able to turn the tables by giving her a taste of her own medicine. Oh, how she hated getting her rear end burned by the lava! She was thinking out loud, not caring if she got my attention (despite that I'm held in a ceiling-mounted, birdcage-like cell).

"Never in my life have I been defeated THAT way!" she complained. "Just look what Bill and Lance did to my skirt! I mean, what's next? That pink-haired girlfriend of yours is gonna blast me in the butt with her bowling ball-sized bombs?!"

"Erm…we're not exactly dating, per se," I answered, "We're merely best friends. But the thing is: she'll probably do just that to you by the time she arrives here."

Arctic Bomber scoffed at my response. "Oh, _puh-lease_, tell me more, Mister Know-It-All!" Even though I was imprisoned and weapon-less, her sarcasm didn't scare me one bit.

"Look, you're completely missing the point as to why I 'rudely' turned down your offer to become your boyfriend." I emphasized "rudely" in air quotes, much to Arctic Bomber's annoyed look. "You're selfish and immature, not to mention jealous that Ami might be just the right person for me, when the time comes. At least, when we're older."

Rather than get what I just told her, the bratty ice princess brushed me off by gloating that Ami, Bill, and Lance would never get this far. She had already turned Donut Plains into a wintry nightmare with a machine that ran on her ice powers, before we started our vacation on Yoshi's Island.

* * *

[Stage BGM: Winter's Here (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game)]

_Mission 2: Glazed Donut Plains  
With Ami, the cute-half of Puffy AmiYumi, safely back in tow, Bill and Lance continue onwards to Donut Plains, unaware that Arctic Bomber was already at work prior to our arrival.  
June 10, 20XX  
2:45 PM_

The three Contras stepped off the bridge, albeit surprised to see Donut Plains being frozen over like a snowstorm just passed by. Ami did not remember the place being that way back in _Super Mario World_, though she recalled one winter-themed level having existed (only in the "Special World").

"It has to be Arctic Bomber's work," suggested Lance. "I mean, why else would we not recall that in the actual game itself?"

"We can talk about video games some other time," Bill interrupted, "but right now, stopping the snow at the source is our priority – especially when it's supposed to be summer."

An army of snowman-like soldiers flew towards the group, with yellow capes on their backs. Ami, Bill, and Lance jumped on them to knock off the capes, which reverted to the Cape Feathers. With the ability to fly, Ami hopped onto Yoshi's back, while Bill and Lance took flight. Before Yoshi took off, he found an abandoned blue Koopa shell, and ate it to magically sprout wings on his back.

Afterwards, they spent some time flying over a frozen lake, swatting down the jet-like drones along the way. About 10 minutes later, a large ice ball came flying out of nowhere and struck the group, not only taking away their Cape Feather power-ups, but sending them careening towards the ground.

"WE'RE GONNA CRASH!" screamed Ami.

Fortunately, for Ami's group, they fell onto a nearby trampoline. Despite getting hurt a bit from hitting the ground after bouncing on the trampoline, they could still move.

"Whew…what was that thing that hit us just now?"

"My guess is," suggested Bill, "it came from that castle over there. We're close by."

A pair of illegally-modified plow-like tanks approached the Contras, each carrying a turret mounted on top. Recalling from _Contra_, these tanks could run people over if they were not destroyed quickly. Ami formulated a plan: Bill and Lance would distract the tanks by drawing their fire, and Ami would "bowl a strike" with her Thunder Bombs. The plan succeeded when the tanks exploded into piles of scrap metal, but just as the Contras ran near the castle, an alarm went off with wall-mounted cannons firing icy cannonballs. Bill and Lance could only do little damage to the cannons with their AK-47 machine guns, but Ami's Fire Bombs made short work of them.

"Good thinking, Ami!" said Lance. "I almost forgot that fire melts ice."

* * *

Henceforth, Ami melted the icicle-like gate with her Fire Bombs, granting access to Arctic Bomber's second castle. Unlike the last one, it wasn't filled with lava pits – after all, who'd be stupid enough to put lava in an ice castle, anyway? As for the green Yoshi, he stayed outside to guard the egg that held one of his friends inside. For the next 10 minutes, Ami, Bill, and Lance carefully made their way past the Thwomps and Thwimps alike, and jumped their way to the top of the castle (while making sure not to touch the spikes), with or without their Cape Feathers to help them. Throughout the entire trek, Ami was steamed at what Arctic Bomber was planning to do with me.

[End BGM]  
[Alert BGM: Black Power (Mega Man Battle Network 5: Double Team DS)]

Finally, the three Contras had reached Arctic Bomber's lair and spotted me in the large birdcage-like cell. While two walls closed up to conceal the arena, Arctic Bomber was shocked to see that they made it all the way through alive.

"Ugh! Why didn't you just give up already?!" ranted Arctic Bomber. "But nevertheless, I was getting bored, so I'll play with you to kill time. Not that I'm sore about my previous loss, but still! Anyway, master Malicious Bomber said losers like you can't pass here!"

"Who I'm sure is likely Red Falcon in disguise," said Bill, pointing at the Red Falcon insignia on the Bomber-girl's helmet.

"Pshh! I don't know what you're talking about."

Lance butted in, "Oh? Well, then why do we see that _all-too-familiar_ insignia on your forehead?"

[End BGM]  
[Boss BGM: I'm Not Nice (Super Paper Mario)]

"Aw, forget this! I'm not letting you get inside Vanilla Dome! You'll be frozen to your souls here and NOW!"

That was when Ami stepped in front of Bill and Lance. "You two stay back, she's mine!"

The rogue ice princess attacked by generating two icicle spears with an icy wind, intent on stabbing the one girl she's _obviously_ jealous of. Ami, however, was quick to dodge the jabs, and retaliated by melting the spears with her Fire Bombs, inflicting damage in the process. Arctic Bomber stamped her right foot in a hissy fit, and changed her strategy by throwing her ice bombs around. Bill and Lance batted them away with their AK-47s to keep Ami from freezing up, thus giving her ample time to fight back.

"Feeling too hot from using your bombs?" taunted Arctic Bomber. "You could use a little _blizzard_ to chill out!" Despite her bad ice pun, she unleashed a snowstorm in an effort to freeze Ami, Bill, and Lance. Before they froze up, Ami got out another of her bombs and used the fiery explosions to melt the snow. The female Hate Bomber laughed it up, thinking Ami just blew herself up along with Bill and Lance. But, when the smoke cleared, _they weren't harmed at all_ - thanks to the holy power upgrade that Penny Crygor installed into Ami's Bomberman Watch, much to Arctic Bomber's dismay.

Then the Mistress of the Cold threw a tantrum on the spot by stamping her right foot once again, and combined her snowstorm attack with firing ice shards from her hands. She even formed up a pair of icicle-like spears in her hands with an icy wind. Despite her efforts to kill her pink-haired nemesis, Ami's pumped-up Fire Bombs cancelled the attacks and damaged her. "Okay, enough clowning around!" she shouted, pulling out a bomb with three finger holes atop. "It's high-time I surprised you like you've _never_ been surprised before!"

Ami, instead of feeling intimidated, laughed it up. "_This_ is what you're gonna surprise me with: a bowling ball?"

"It isn't just a bowling ball, Ami…but rather one of my signature moves: the Bowling Bomb! I didn't just spend nearly 5 years trapped in the netherworld, doing nothing! Not only am I the Mistress of the Cold, but I'm also a Bowling Queen!" She paused to arm her bomb by twisting its top half in a 180-degree angle, activating its internal fuse. "You're just about to find out exactly how a bowling pin feels!"

Arctic Bomber got into a bowling position as if she were in a bowling alley, and held out her Bowling Bomb like a real bowling ball. Assuming Ami would just stand there and get blasted along with Bill and Lance like bowling pins, the Mistress of the Cold took aim, and threw the bomb down the middle. Bill and Lance aimed their AK-47s, but Ami signaled for them to stand down and not worry about her. "Okay, _ice princess_, how about a little Bomb Kick!"

She emphasized "Bomb Kick" by punting the bomb like a soccer ball, sending it right back at Arctic Bomber to blast her in the gut, covering her in soot some more. The moment Ami got out one last Fire Bomb to finish the fight, the Bomber-girl shrieked and tried to run away. The cute half of Puffy AmiYumi, however, gave the cowering villainess a taste of her own medicine by throwing her bomb like a bowling ball. The end result was Arctic Bomber crashing into a wall during her attempted escape, and getting blown up in her still-singed bottom.

[End BGM]

"YYEEEEOOOOWWCH!" screamed Arctic Bomber.

"You can dish it out, but you can't take it!" taunted Ami, flashing a sly wink.

"Argh…I can't believe you beat me at my own game! But…don't think this is the end! You've still got three more Hate Bombers to fight, each being stronger than me…" She shorted out, and exploded to nothing but dust.

* * *

[Victory BGM: Boss Defeated (Balloon Kid)]

Bill and Lance congratulated Ami with high-fives, and helped her bring the cage down to free me. "Thank goodness I'm free!" I hugged Ami to express my gratitude. "Now we Four Contras are reunited!"

I went to get one of the large eggs that held another of Yoshi's friends captive, while Ami grabbed a magic plunger to destroy the castle. Bill and Lance pulled down a nearby lever to open up the two walls of the arena, so we could escape. After making our way past the Thwomps and Thwimps, we got out of the castle, and I expressed my gratitude further by jumping onto the plunger. An explosion went off, thus melting the ice castle. It turned out not a moment too soon, that Arctic Bomber's second castle was the main source of the wintry wind that froze Donut Plains over. Everything was back to normal.

"Five more of Yoshi's friends are still held prisoner in the eggs within Dinosaur Land," I said, "but with the four of us together again, we can make our way through alive. Oh, and thanks for finding me. Sorry I wasn't much help while I was caged."

Ami smiled warmly. "Aw, no worries, Aaron! I'm not exactly a professional like I am at playing in a J-pop band, but I'm a better bowler than Arctic Bomber." We laughed with each other, knowing the Mistress of the Cold was probably all talk.

[End BGM]

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

Next stop, the Vanilla Dome! See you again some other time!


	5. A change in Blaze Bomber's personality

Hey! Sorry for that unnecessary delay (although I can't promise everything). DeviantART, occasional job search, and even Thanksgiving as of last month's update.

**DISCLAIMER: Contra is a property Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; the Mario and Wario franchises belong to Nintendo. ****Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is owned by Renegade Animation.** Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

Chapter 4: A sudden change in Blaze Bomber's personality

[Interlude BGM: Rukifellth's Theme (Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!)]

Meanwhile, deep below Dinosaur Land, there was a meeting with the newly-revived Sniper Bomber and Axe Bomber, along with two new figures: a tall, purple-skinned, humanoid snake…and a dark-armored being with a red cape, and sinister-looking horns atop his helmet. Attached to his forehead was the all-too-familiar Red Falcon insignia.

"So," said the dark-armored figure, "Arctic Bomber has fallen for the first time in five years since the Alien Wars. How typical…but, it seems that Bill Rizer and Lance Bean – along with their new allies – are probably already figuring me out for who I really am. At this rate, I can no longer maintain my secret identity as 'Malicious Bomber'…"

The purple humanoid snake spoke up, albeit the lack of any snaky sounds in his voice. "Well, clearly, secret identities are made to be discovered at some point in the near future, if not too soon."

"Just indulge me, Purple Basilisk…seeing that you're the only surviving veteran of the Alien Wars, not to mention the fact that you did help me build my loyal generals' new bodies."

"I mean, since Bill and Lance are still alive, their assumptions that you're not really Malicious Bomber at all are becoming more clear, just by looking at the insignia on Arctic Bomber's forehead – or, so the reports indicated. It's just plain obvious!" Purple Basilisk paused to raise his hands in frustration. "They know we're the Red Falcon Empire to begin with, and not some generic terrorist organization no one has ever heard about!"

The dark-armored fiend sneered. "If that's the case, then _somebody_ had better shut them up before they learn the truth, let alone spread it! I took the name 'Malicious Bomber' so that nobody would suspect my real intentions until I fully regain my true body! But, I digress."

Sniper Bomber then spoke to his leader. "Blaze Bomber's in Vanilla Dome, but I doubt he'll make short work of those meddlesome Contras. He's been acting…well, not so pyro-maniacal ever since his first death back in the Alien Wars. I should've just killed them myself rather than rely on him to do so."

"Rest assured, my loyal second-in-command, that's exactly what I was hoping for. But then again, it never hurts to have a backup plan in mind, which I intend to put to use when the time comes…" The sinister leader then cackled with three of his followers.

[End BGM]

* * *

[Stage BGM: The Dungeon is Full of Monsters (Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars)]

_Mission 3: Vanilla Dome  
We, the "Four Contras," are officially reunited shortly after Ami eliminated Arctic Bomber and returned Donut Plains back to its original state. Our next stop was, without a doubt, Vanilla Dome.  
June 10, 20XX  
3:30 PM_

Back on the surface, we had stepped through an open gate, leading us inside a huge cavern. Yoshi became scared of what was to come, but Ami assured him not to be afraid since there were still some friends of his, that needed to be rescued. Suddenly, a group of vampire bats came swooping down on us.

"Swoopers!" I shouted. "Get down!"

We crouched downwards to avoid getting bitten by the Swoopers, while Yoshi jumped in shock, inadvertently stomping on the bats' heads in the process. The moment he knocked them out, we got up and thanked him for overcoming his fear of scary creatures inside caverns. Unfortunately, the situation attracted the attention of patrolling robot soldiers, each armed with a laser pistol.

"It had to be the laser pistols," I said, "but then again, we've seen worse."

"I hope you guys don't mind if we borrowed one of those," said Bill, shooting up the hostile robots with his AK-47. Then he grabbed one of the laser pistols to give to me, while the dead robots coughed up a Fire Flower. I immediately picked it up, giving me the ability to throw fireballs.

"That should even up the odds a little," said Lance. "But where do we find the next castle?"

"If I remember from _Super Mario World_," suggested Ami, "there's a big lake we gotta swim through…and yes, make our way through a Ghost House, where the Boos live."

When Yoshi heard the words "Ghost House," he freaked out and buried his head on the ground. "Yoshi, it's okay! I know haunted houses are scary, but we just have to face our fears, like it or not." Ami patted Yoshi's head soothingly, until he relaxed and got himself out of hiding. "Trust me, I know that feeling. I don't like having to go through haunted places, but I'll do it – especially since we're on a quest to save your kind from the evil forces of Red Falcon. In fact, your friends are also our friends."

"Ami's right, Yoshi," I added. "We're in this together, and we'll get all your friends back to Yoshi's Island, safe and sound. That's a promise."

For the next 30 minutes, we swam our way across the Cheep Cheep-filled lake, dodged the Rip Van Fishes that stubbornly gave chase, and got off at the foothold for climbing up a mountain to reach the Ghost House. On our way up, we were intercepted by a sentry UFO that fired missiles at us. I helped Bill and Lance destroy the missiles with my laser pistol, while Ami threw her Thunder Bombs at the UFO to dismantle it. We kept moving in case we didn't shoot down the missiles in time to avoid injuries. Yoshi, on the other hand, pulled one of the missiles into his mouth with his tongue, and spat it back out at the UFO, destroying it in the process. However, upon its destruction, it flew towards us in a suicide attempt to take us with it. We reached the top prior to going prone, letting the downed UFO pass through us before it crash-landed and exploded, thus causing heavy damage to the Ghost House.

"Wow…" I stared in awe. "I don't remember that happening in _Super Mario World_, but at least we won't have to worry about facing the Boos for a while."

[End BGM]

* * *

We were now 30 minutes in, having reached the end of our trek to the top of Vanilla Dome's interior. We fought our way past the robotic versions of the Chargin' Chucks, and reached the third castle. Inside, we came face-to-face with another Hate Bomber, who Bill and Lance instantly recognized as Blaze Bomber.

"It's the Pyro-Maniacal Fiend himself!" shouted Bill. "Everybody duck before he incinerates us!"

Blaze Bomber, on the other hand, was confused. "I'm sorry? I was the 'Pyro-Maniacal Fiend' during the Alien Wars, before you and Lance destroyed me in combat. As the years went by, I gradually become less pyro-maniacal."

"Your wordplay will not trick us, Blaze Bomber," warned Lance. "Now where's another of Yoshi's captured friends?!"

The not-so-evil Bomberman got out the egg, and gave it to us. "Right here, safe and sound…but I torment no imprisoned victims. You see, I follow a moral that disallows killing people, especially when they're unarmed and helpless. I…I was brainwashed against my will, many years ago. The villain you seek isn't who you think he is, like Arctic Bomber claimed…but he's trying to regain control of me. He wants me to kill you, or else he would kill me. You must defeat me again, if I am to regain my freedom that I long for!"

Blaze Bomber began feeling pain in his head, as if an evil force were beckoning him to put aside his moral and kill us. "HRRAAAAGH! Ah, ha ha ha! Morals mean nothing, only destruction to all organic life forms! I still remember the time you killed me, Bill and Lance! Just for that, I'll incinerate you both, along with your newfound friends!"

[Boss BGM: GTR Attack! (Contra: Hard Corps)]

Then he stopped being hostile momentarily. "No…I won't kill anymore! I refuse to fight for evil any longer…!"

Despite having tried his best to fight the evil within, he attacked by unleashing a streaming jet of flames from both his hands. We quickly ducked beneath the hot flames, while Ami got out her Ice Bombs to cool down the fire – and inflict damage on Blaze Bomber. Suddenly, the holy power from her bombs caused the Hate Bomber to wince in pain. "Urrrgh…at last, after all these years, a worthy opponent with the power to smite the evil within…" Before he could finish, the evil force within him regained control, forcing him back into hostility. He generated a flaming aura around his body, and flew his way across the castle to inflict burning damage on us, incinerating the laser pistol I was holding. Then he followed up by punching and kicking us into the ground before regaining his consciousness.

"Rise, Contras! Rise! Only by defeating me with the power you seem to inherit from the ancient warriors – who fought hard to banish Red Falcon into the netherworld – that I would be free."

"You mean, like…" I asked weakly, "we're descendants? I don't understand."

"Me neither," said Ami.

"You'll find your answers when the time comes. But right now, let me fall before you in battle. Do not let me transform! Honor…let me keep my honor!" At that point, Bill and Lance began to believe Blaze Bomber's words.

"So our assumptions were clear after all," said Bill.

"Malicious Bomber _is_ Red Falcon," said Lance, "but that still doesn't explain how he came back from the dead long after we killed him."

Meanwhile, I called out to my pink-haired best friend, "Ami, only your Ice Bombs can cool his jets. I'm beginning to see the truth about him."

Ami nodded, and got out an Ice Bomb to pump up by focusing her energy. "I'm sorry, Blaze Bomber…but if it's the only way to end this madness, I'll do it." Then she sidestepped to dodge more of Blaze Bomber's flamethrower, and the Molotov cocktails that were thrown at her. When the time was right, she threw her Ice Bomb with amazing grace, eventually stopping all of Blaze Bomber's flames and defeating him at the same time.

[End BGM]

The moment that battle was over, the structural damage from all of Blaze Bomber's attacks caused the castle to collapse. We grabbed the unconscious Bomberman, and ran outside the castle before it crumbled to the ground. Then we took a Warp Pipe, which led us to the top of Vanilla Dome's exterior, nearby what we recognized as the "Twin Bridges." Ami and I put Blaze Bomber down, and waited for him to wake up.

* * *

[Redemption BGM: Stage Select (Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!)]

"Wh-where am I?" he asked. "And what have I been doing all this time? Oh…and thank you for setting me free…Aaron, Ami, Bill, and Lance. If you're worried about your dino companion's other friends, don't be. They're in the other castles at the moment, but you have to rescue them before it's too late."

"Blaze Bomber, what really happened to you?" asked Bill.

"Please…" said Lance, "tell us the truth."

Blaze Bomber closed his eyes in sadness. "Long ago, but sometime before the year 1603, when your ancestors fought hard to banish Red Falcon and his followers, he attacked my home planet and my people that lived there. He, Sniper Bomber, and Axe Bomber spared no one. They just killed, with no remorse whatsoever. I was the only survivor, but Red Falcon insisted that I become one of his four generals by brainwashing me against my will. He masqueraded as a false god in order for that to work, and unfortunately, it did. I've lived a cursed life as a Hate Bomber, until now. As for Arctic Bomber, she was the only one in the group who was hired as a mercenary – paid to be one of Red Falcon's generals."

"In short," I summarized, "you were never evil to begin with. But, when we defeated you, we weakened Red Falcon's control over you."

"And now, you're free." Ami smiled.

Henceforth, we went for a walk across one of the bridges, which Ami and I identified as the Cheese Bridge. The one on the left, however, was called the Butter Bridge. Suddenly, something emerged from a lake below, identified as Soda Lake, and managed to climb the mountainous Vanilla Dome onto the bridge.

[Interrupt BGM]  
[Alert BGM: Threat of War (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn)]

Immediately, the giant-sized being, approximately ten or so stories high, revealed himself as the same blue skeleton-like robot that Bill and Lance destroyed five years ago, during the Alien Wars.

"Aw, crap!" Bill exclaimed. "It's Robo-Corpse!"

Lance joined in. "But, how did you get so _tall_ all of a sudden?"

The evil robot snickered in response. "Lord Red Falcon modified me for the following five years, as of the Alien Wars. You could say I was this tall to begin with, or he increased my size, so I could even the odds. But here's the best part: I'm fully reinforced with titanium, and you don't have a chance at destroying me this time!" Then he looked at me and Ami. "So, these are the two I've heard about recently, ever since your arrival on this pitiful island. I must commend your efforts for coming this far. Oh, and as your reward for discovering that 'Malicious Bomber' was indeed Red Falcon…"

The titanium-reinforced fiend paused in mid-sentence to raise his claw, and slashed the weakened Blaze Bomber with ease, inflicting near-fatal damage upon him!

"AAAAAACK!" screamed Blaze Bomber, who dropped face-first to the ground. We immediately returned fire by shooting at Robo-Corpse's head, only to realize that he was right: his head and body were indeed reinforced with titanium.

Then he taunted us with no remorse. "You could say we've learned a most valuable lesson: never brainwash anyone who might eventually break free in due time. But, I digress. And as for you pitiable Contras, you have your own problems!"

At that point, we Contras became angry at Robo-Corpse for what he did to our newfound ally. I was the first to speak up, "You son of a bitch! You killed Blaze Bomber!"

"Yeah!" Ami exclaimed. "What did he ever do to you monsters before your leader wiped out his people, and brainwashed him against his will?!"

"Sticks and stones, human scum," said Robo-Corpse, preparing for an all-out assault. "Anytime you want to join him in hell, just feel free to ask. Either I kill you, or Sniper Bomber and Axe Bomber will finish what I started. Still, it's pointless to resist me!" He finished up by breathing fire, setting the Cheese Bridge ablaze. We were then forced to put aside our vengeful thoughts and run for our lives.

As for Robo-Corpse himself, he pulled the Butter Bridge off from the land to use as his makeshift nunchuck, and walked across Soda Lake to ensure our untimely demise. We needed a plan if we expect to stop him, much less work around his titanium alloy.

[End BGM]

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

It looks like Robo-Corpse, the third boss in _Contra III: The Alien Wars_, has returned with a vengeance! As always, reviews are appreciated, and I'll see you again soon! Hopefully, I'll find enough time to finish DCC #1: Super Contra World before Christmas season.


	6. From a bridge to the Forest of Illusion

Next chapter's here now, as the good guys are almost halfway through.

**DISCLAIMER: Contra is a property Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; the Mario and Wario franchises belong to Nintendo. ****Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is owned by Renegade Animation.** Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

Chapter 5: From the bridges to the Forest of Illusion

[Boss BGM: Bloody Storm (Contra III: The Alien Wars)]

_Mission 4: Danger below and behind  
Back from robot hell, let alone a scrap yard, is one of Red Falcon's finest mechanical monsters: Robo-Corpse. With his size, titanium, and possibly artillery upgrades, we may not have a chance against him this time – judging by the way he inflicted near-fatal damage upon Blaze Bomber.  
June 10, 20XX  
5:10 PM_

On the run from the gargantuan machine, we jumped forth to avoid the chainsaw-like sentries that were cutting through the bridge. Ami threw her Ice Bombs behind us to put out the flames from Robo-Corpse's flamethrower, but even so, that didn't stop the titanium-reinforced giant in his attack. He swung his makeshift nunchuck, the Butter Bridge, just barely missing us. Meanwhile, we were baffled as to how he could maneuver around the water without rusting himself since he's a robot; that is, unless his titanium alloy was waterproof.

Since Yoshi (who's carrying Blaze Bomber on his back) was with us, if we were to get our hands on a pair of magical wings that enable him to fly, he would get us out of the Cheese Bridge, and to a safer area ahead: Cookie Mountain. That's when we noticed an item block ahead.

"I see it up ahead," said Lance. "It's got to contain Yoshi's Wings for bailing us out!" With that, he jumped and punched the block, miraculously coughing up the item we needed for Yoshi to get us out. The dino buddy then acquired the wings, grabbed ahold of us and his trapped friends, and whisked us to safety with all his might. Due to the combined weight he had to carry, however, we could travel no farther than to Cookie Mountain.

"Okay, we're out of the bridge," said Bill, catching his breath. "What now?"

Robo-Corpse grabbed ahold of Cookie Mountain by the top with his claws, merely showing his face. "I show you my new weapons I have in store for you," threatened the killer robot, "that's what!" He started off by firing ballistic missiles from his shoulders, inflicting more damage upon the mountain than to us. Then he followed up by raising his elbows, revealing deadly machine guns. He opened fire without delay, prompting us to run some more. He combined that with launching time bombs from his chest, which exploded right in front of us, destroying a bit more of Cookie Mountain.

"Face it, Contras!" Robo-Corpse cackled. "You have no way of escaping my wrath!"

"Oh yeah?!" Ami shouted, throwing a barrage of pumped-up Thunder Bombs. "These oughta stop you!" Unfortunately, for her, her bombs didn't do much damage to Robo-Corpse, given his increased size and titanium alloy.

"I guess we really are doomed to die, aren't we…"

"Don't give up, Ami," I said. "He's gotta have a weakness. Like in a video game, let alone the _Contra_ franchise, every boss-sized enemy has a weakness." I stopped in mid-sentence to snap my fingers. "Wait, that's it!"

Ami was confused momentarily. "What's it? Have you figured out how we can dismantle Robo-Corpse for good?"

"Remember a boss fight against him, which we had to go through in order to progress in _Contra III: The Alien Wars_, or even _Contra 4_ as well? The thing is, whenever we finished him, his head would get chopped off, eventually killing him within an explosion."

"I hate to interrupt, you two," interrupted Lance, "but whatever you have in mind, think it quick!"

Then I called out to Bill and Lance. "You two go into that castle above Cookie Mountain with Yoshi to get another of his friends out. Ami and I will draw Robo-Corpse's attention."

"Yeah," Ami added, "Aaron and I believe his weakness has to be his neck!"

"But what _can_ either of you do," Bill worried, "if none of our attacks faze him?"

"No time to explain! Just go, we'll be alright!" With that, Ami and I began to distract Robo-Corpse, while Bill and Lance climbed up a ladder with Yoshi towards the fourth castle on Dinosaur Land. But, the mechanical monstrosity took a quick glance over there, and attempted to grab the castle off the ground with his free hand.

"HEY, TIN MAN!" I bellowed. "OVER HERE!"

Ami joined in. "We're the ones you want, not them!"

Robo-Corpse could only snicker at me and Ami, in response. "You really want to see Blaze Bomber again that badly, eh? Fine by me…it's your funeral." He dropped the Butter Bridge and switched his claws with a pair of circular buzzsaws, ready to make mincemeat out of us. Then he swung his arms downward, but we were quick enough to jump out of the way. He followed up with shooting laser beams out of his eyes, catching us off guard.

"We've just seen what his buzzsaws can do," I said, "Now if we could just turn them against him…"

Ami, however, gulped at the thought. "But what good would that do? In case you haven't noticed, he's like over _a hundred feet_ bigger than us! If only…of course! I almost forgot about those!" She pulled out two cans of spinach from her backpack, which thankfully wasn't confiscated when she was imprisoned a couple of hours ago. She gave me one of the cans, before we squeezed them open to gulp down the spinach. In just seconds, we were given super strength, Popeye-style.

Robo-Corpse swung his buzzsaws towards the ground again, but we were ready for him this time. We grabbed ahold of one of his arms in an effort to push the circular saw towards his metallic neck.

"I see you've managed to acquire superhuman strength," said Robo-Corpse, "but even that will never help you!"

"Now where have I heard _that_ rebuttal before?" I retorted. "But needless to say, never say never!"

The giant robot used his free arm to fire a machine gun from his elbow, following up with spewing flames from his mouth. But, we were wise to use the arm we're holding as a shield, preventing mortal damage. Then, with all our might, we punched his arm repeatedly, ignoring the pain on our knuckles in the process. Bellowing like Norse gods, we finished up with a mega punch simultaneously, sending the buzzsaw straight at his neck beyond control. As our spinach-enhanced strength wore off, Robo-Corpse's head was decapitated, and it fell to the ground. We stretched our hands and breathed a sigh of relief, as his now-headless body ceased function.

[End BGM]

"I think we've got him," said Ami, wiping sweat off of her forehead. "Whew! That was a close one!"

"I second that, Ami," I agreed. Just then, Robo-Corpse's claw twitched momentarily, his headless body regaining function afterwards.

[Danger BGM: RedEye King (Star Fox Adventures)]

We were both flabbergasted at what we just saw. "Huh? What?!" We were forced to get out of range, running towards the ladder that led to the castle above. For the next few minutes, I pondered over the situation at hand.

"Ami, I think I know what we can do now." As I spoke with my best friend, the headless robot blew flames from his neck.

"What do you mean, Aaron? Even without his head, he can still move! It just doesn't make any sense!"

"I'm aware we only succeeded in blinding him, in a manner of speaking. But, look at where his flames are coming from. I mean, think about it: what is typically required for a flamethrower to work?"

"A fuel tank. Why?"

"I have an idea. Can you hand me the X-Ray Goggles that Penny Crygor invented for us, prior to our vacation?" Ami did just that without delay, whereas I used the goggles to see through Robo-Corpse's titanium body, and found something of interest inside his chest. "Just as I thought. There're enough fuel tanks inside to level his whole body, assuming we detonate them all at once."

Meanwhile, the fourth castle lifted off the ground like a rocket. We figured Bill and Lance must have found a switch to set it off like in _Super Mario World_. Bill called us, via the communicators. "We've found the next egg containing Yoshi's friend, and we're just about heading your way now."

"Good job!" said Ami. "Say, can you redirect the castle straight into Robo-Corpse by the neck? We've just decapitated him."

"What are you talking about?" asked Lance.

"There's no time to explain!" I warned. "Just do it, but make sure to bail out before the impact!"

We hung up our communicators, and began our ascent for higher ground. Ami threw as many Fire Bombs as she could at the missiles that Robo-Corpse fired from his shoulders. When we reached the top, we saw the castle fly closer to the neck, and we brought up our communicators again.

"NOW!" we shouted simultaneously, as Bill and Lance jumped out with Blaze Bomber and the Yoshi eggs, aboard the winged Yoshi. The moment they landed next to us, we watched as the enemy castle flew straight down Robo-Corpse's neck, eventually crash-landing upon impact. Eventually, the blast set off a chain reaction of fuel tanks erupting in a series of explosions, completely blowing Robo-Corpse and his downed head into a million fragments of scrap metal. We ducked for cover to avoid the debris and shield our eyes from the huge explosion. Within the next minute, the smoke cleared; we could now see that the gargantuan killer robot was gone for good.

[End BGM]  
[Victory BGM: Sub Castle Clear Fanfare (Super Mario World)]

Exhausted from the heated battle, we raised our arms in triumph. "We did it!" Ami beamed happily.

"That sure was a close one, alright!" I agreed.

[End BGM]

* * *

For the first time since we began our journey on Dinosaur Land, we managed to get a break from having to fight the evil forces of Red Falcon. We leisurely climbed down another ladder, this time leading into the Forest of Illusion. It was sunset the moment we entered the forest, and definitely a good time to set up camp for the evening, not to mention heal our injuries.

"I'm glad we're all safe once more," said Bill.

Lance nodded. "Now all that's left is getting our supper ready."

Throughout the night, Bill and Lance hunted for food, and cooked it up for our dinner. Meanwhile, Ami and I looked at the nearly-dead Blaze Bomber, hoping if there's a possibility that Penny and her grandpa might repair him. Our trains of thought stopped as we yawned out of exhaustion. We pulled out our sleeping bags and went to sleep, while Bill and Lance stayed awake to guard us in case of an ambush.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

Indeed it was a close call. Sorry if it wasn't exactly long for a boss fight chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Night raid in the Forest of Illusion

In this chapter, it's Axe Bomber and Purple Basilisk's turn to call the shots!

**DISCLAIMER: Contra is a property Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; the Mario and Wario franchises belong to Nintendo. ****Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is owned by Renegade Animation.** Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

Chapter 6: Night raid in the Forest of Illusion

It was a dark, but rather peaceful night than a stormy one. Aside from that, we had gotten ourselves a break from all we had been through today for once. Or, so we believed…

[Interlude BGM: Rukifellth's Theme (Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!)]

Meanwhile, beneath the surface in the underworld, the Red Falcon Empire had seen our actions, the most recent being the battle on the Twin Bridges where the new-and-improved Robo-Corpse nearly killed us. But even so, they cared little about Blaze Bomber's contribution.

"It was all just a matter of time before my telepathic hold on Blaze Bomber's consciousness would eventually dissipate," pondered Red Falcon. "However, even in my weakened shape, encased by the metallic shell I wear, I could sense something familiar…"

"Familiar?" asked Sniper Bomber. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Have you forgotten our first attempt at conquering this primitive rock, my loyal second-in-command? It was that very day in the year 1603; two warriors and a wise sage had such an unusual power, which enabled them to destroy your bodies and banish us to the underworld."

"Yeah, I remember that!" exclaimed Axe Bomber. "But now we, the Hate Bombers, are back in our new bodies, and good to go!"

"Needless to say, we now know it's better to build our own Hate Bomber," said Sniper Bomber, glancing over to Axe Bomber, "than to brainwash such a weakling like Blaze Bomber, whose insistence on upholding his so-called honor annoys both you and me this day. I freakin' knew something was off about him ever since his death during the Alien Wars!"

Red Falcon nodded in response to his two remaining, yet loyal as ever, generals. "And now he's dead, thanks to Robo-Corpse's efforts. But then the Contras were supposed to have died with him also, _right_? WRONG! They somehow manage to work their way around the upgrades I gave to Robo-Corpse, and blew him to bits! Still, I must admire their perseverance." He stopped his speech for a moment until he stopped fuming about our recent victory. "Axe Bomber, I order you to accompany Purple Basilisk in giving the Contras the rude…nay, _deadly_ awakening of the century!"

"You took the words right outta my mouth, boss!" Axe Bomber beamed, clashing both his interchangeable axe hands against each other. "What'll it be? Heads to roll? 'Cause that's what this Heavy-Duty Chopper does best!" He pointed at himself to emphasize his title.

"Nah," replied Sniper Bomber, shaking his head no. "That's too quick, if not a rather boring way to kill them at this time of night. But, there's this old saying: it only takes a spark to start a fire…"

"Oooh…I see what you're thinkin', boss." Axe Bomber twiddled his sharp thumbs in a sinister chuckle. "This is gonna be fun!"

And with that, he teleported out to the overworld with his teleportation belt.

[End BGM]

* * *

_Mission 5: Forest of Illusion  
__Only 3 of Yoshi's friends remain as prisoners of the Red Falcon Empire; however, we did manage to avert our deaths by destroying Robo-Corpse.  
__Meanwhile, Bill and Lance insisted on staying awake to guard me, Ami, and Yoshi, as if things seemed a bit too quiet…  
__June 11, 20XX  
__2:25 AM_

Back at our campsite, I was the first to awaken from my sleep. "Ami…" I nudged her lightly, until she woke up.

"Huh…? Wh-what is it, Aaron?" Ami asked with a yawn.

"Y'know, I was thinking…if we ever save Dinosaur Land alive, let alone discover the truth behind Red Falcon's sudden revival…perhaps we could find a place in Diamond City to live. A house, if you will…"

"Why? You've got a place with us inside the Puffy tour bus…"

"True, but I really desire a house to live in, maybe with you. No…don't get the wrong idea. We're still best friends, but…it's just that, ever since my uncle, a brilliant scientist named Spring, died in a car accident a couple years ago…"

"Yeah, you told me about it once or twice. He was one of Dr. Crygor's finest students back in the day, right?"

I nodded in response, despite my sad tone of voice. "Now that he's gone, I've nowhere else to go. First, my parents were killed during the Alien Wars, and then Sniper Bomber sadistically murdered your own parents…now, my uncle died in that accident."

Then Ami glanced over to me. "And the same fate would've happened to both me and Yumi, had Bill and Lance not arrived in time to save us. They did what they could to kill Sniper Bomber and Axe Bomber, before they raided Red Falcon's underground base to end his reign of terror…"

"Yes." I paused to look at Ami. "That's pretty much why we're both in need of a house to live rather than a bus, whenever you're not busy on tour with Yumi. We just have to pull through any hardships that stand before us. As for Blaze Bomber, we're gonna need help from Penny Crygor. Being a granddaughter of Dr. Crygor, she knows more about robotics than we do. I mean, sure, he's a Bomberman, originally from another planet, but it's plausible."

[Alert BGM: Dark Terror (Advance Wars: Dual Strike)]

Our long conversation was cut short as we heard engine-like sounds coming from above. "Uh-oh…" warned Bill. "Everybody wake up! We've got company!"

It turned out not a moment too soon, a warplane bearing a Red Falcon insignia on its fuselage, had arrived in our vicinity. "Aww…did we disturb your beauty sleep?" came a loudspeaker. "Well, TOO BAD! We've come to put an end to your little adventure!"

Bill and Lance recognized whose voice it was. "Axe Bomber!" they shouted in unison.

"And I'm not the only one calling the shots tonight! My assistant, Purple Basilisk, has accompanied me in our one and only mission: to kill you! Don't even think I've forgotten our first fights from 5 years ago, 'cause I'm gonna pay you back tenfold! Then you'll DIE IN HELL!"

Next up, came Purple Basilisk's voice over the loudspeaker. "Boooring! Let's liven this crap up a little bit, shall we?"

"Heh! That's funny; I was thinking the same thing! Hey, Contras! Need your stupid vacation spruced up? We've got just the thing for you!" Then he flew the warplane over the Forest of Illusion with Purple Basilisk, dropping two napalm bombs along the way.

"RUN!" Lance yelled, awakening Yumi and Yoshi. We got away before the napalm bombs detonated on the ground, eventually setting the whole forest on fire within minutes!

"Sniper Bomber was right," boasted Axe Bomber, "it only takes a spark to start a fire…two big sparks which happen to be loaded with napalm, that is!" He cackled sadistically.

Lance looked upwards, angrily shaking his fist at Axe Bomber and Purple Basilisk's warplane. "YOU BASTARDS! I'M GONNA KILL YOU BOTH!"

"No time!" I shouted over the loud flames. "We have to put out the fire before it takes out the entire forest! Just imagine how long it would take to grow it back after such a disaster!"

"Then Lance and I will go after the warplane with the help of the Cape Feathers we found in the forest." Bill suggested. "The rest of you make good use of Ami's Ice Bombs to put out the flames!"

[End BGM]  
[Stage BGM: Dinosaur Boss Battle (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)]

Elsewhere, aboard the warplane, Axe Bomber took his cue to jump off, intending on running the fifth castle's defenses until the end. "Hey, Basilisk!" he said. "I'll be at one of my castles in case those jackasses manage to blow up our ship. You think you can kill them while I'm out?"

"It'll be my pleasure, Axe Bomber," replied Purple Basilisk. "Consider their lives as good as gone!" When the two villains went to work, Bill and Lance ran through the forest fire with an intention on flying high to the starry-night sky. We could not stand around and watch, as we had our own duty to take care of. Since Ami's Bomberman Watch was modified with holy power, we needn't worry about accidentally freezing the Forest of Illusion in the process.

Unfortunately, even at our best, the forest fire was unbearable. "I don't know if we can put out that giant fire on time," complained Ami. "We're gonna DIE!"

"We can't give up," I said, "even if the fire seems beyond our control at first."

"But this is a _napalm-fueled_ forest fire we're dealing with!"

With little time to waste arguing, I had to become stern in order for her to regain her confidence. "C'mon, Ami! Did Smokey the Bear give up when his forest home got destroyed in a wildfire, back when he was a cub?"

"No…" said Ami.

"And did he give up when some people out there were ignorant enough not to respect the environment, as he grew over the years?"

Ami became confused. "But what does that have to…"

"NO! He stood tall, did what he could to stop forest fires, as well as help people spread the word all over the United States, if not the whole world! His one important message was: **Only you can prevent forest fires.** In our case, we're the only ones who can save the Forest of Illusion."

"You're right!" Ami beamed, with courage. "Bill and Lance have their mission to do, and we have our own to accomplish!"

Henceforth, we ran around the flaming forest as fast as we could, throwing a barrage of Ice Bombs along the way to put out the flames. Even Yoshi got in the act of finding some blue watermelons, known to have given his kindred the ability to spew an ice breath. He gulped one of them at a time, and breathed out an icy wind to help neutralize the napalm-fueled fire. We occasionally paused to freeze the missiles that Purple Basilisk fired out at us, and resumed our mission to save the forest.

Given the fact that this is basically _liquid fire_ we're dealing with, even though it set the trees ablaze in the first place, we could not rely on water alone as it would only make things worse. Naturally, fire required three things to stay ablaze: heat, oxygen, and fuel. Remove any of them, and the fire will eventually extinguish. In our case, since we kept running around, tossing a barrage of Ice Bombs around, we cooled everything down by taking away the heat. Even if the heat from the forest fire were to melt the icy explosions, water would still save the trees…just not smother the liquid fire from the napalm bombs that detonated on the ground earlier tonight.

Finally, we focused on putting out the liquid fire by relying on Ami's Fire Bombs instead. By correctly setting them around the flame, we let the cartoon bombs explode and suck up the oxygen needed, while staying out of range so as to not suffocate. When the smoke cleared, the liquid fire was finally put out. Ami, Yoshi, and I breathed sighs of relief.

* * *

Elsewhere, Bill and Lance weren't having a difficult time hijacking the warplane, and forcing Purple Basilisk to bail out. They fought hand-to-hand, eventually succeeding with pure luck since the humanoid snake was not skillful in martial arts. Then they swiped one of his time bombs, and set it inside a reactor for the warplane, before jumping out.

"Axe Bomber!" Purple Basilisk shouted over the communicator. "Those meddlesome Contras have beaten us!"

The Heavy-Duty Chopper himself replied over the speaker, "Not to mention _miraculously_ putting out a big forest fire! I hate it when they persevere, especially with their friends around!"

"Look, just hold them off if they come and get you, while I set up a counter-assault at Chocolate Island!" Then Purple Basilisk shut off the communicator and held onto his open parachute.

[End BGM]

Whereas the humanoid snake landed on Chocolate Island, Bill and Lance flew back to our position in the Forest of Illusion, just seconds before the time bomb exploded, completely destroying the enemy warplane. Unfortunately, for us, we couldn't stop to rest any longer as we still had another Hate Bomber to deal with. We ran inside the fifth castle, made our way past the Thwomps, and reached Axe Bomber's lair.

"Ahh," said the Hate Bomber, "so glad to see you've made it here alive! I was supposed to hold you off, but…" He decided to pull down a big red lever next to him. "_Yoink!_"

"Axe Bomber, you evil coward," I shouted. "You get back here this instant!"

"Aw, you're no fun! I'm much too busy enjoying our little game of cat and mouse!" He ran off with the fifth Yoshi egg along with Tekirai and Jeng Kang, trapping us inside the castle rigged to explode at any minute. Luckily, Yoshi had the magic wings he found during our mission to extinguish the forest fire. Ami blew open a hole in the wall with a pumped-up Fire Bomb, and Yoshi carried Blaze Bomber's lifeless body to safety. Then he came back for me and Ami, while Bill and Lance climbed their way out of the castle and jumped to the ground. We got away just before another following explosion occurred.

"If we're lucky," said Bill, "Axe Bomber thinks we died in the explosion. This time, we'll rest up a bit, and launch a surprise attack of our own while he's not looking."

I scoffed at what we just witnessed. "If you ask me, he sure knows how to rely on some of the most clichéd tactics ever. Not that I've fought him before, but I'm just saying."

"We gotta admit," said Lance, "he _is_ a homicidal maniac, after all."

"So next up's Chocolate Island, like in _Super Mario World_, huh?" wondered Ami. "At least we're getting close." Henceforth, we walked back into the Forest of Illusion, and took a nap next to one of the trees. During our rest, we were very glad to have saved the whole forest before it was completely destroyed. While it would only take a few or so minutes for the trees to burn down, it could take a long time to grow them back to their former glory. In other words, we must all take extra precautions as to not fool around with fire or leave them unattended…and most of all, protect nature from those who would attempt to destroy it, or in some cases, abuse it for their own selfish desires.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

The fiery nightmare's over and the Forest of Illusion is saved. As Smokey the Bear would say: "Only you can prevent forest fires."


	8. Almost to the end

Two more chapters to go, and this one is perhaps the longest so far in DCC #1! Sorry I was late though, but hey, better than never, I guess. While I can't keep every promise I make, it doesn't mean I shouldn't finish a fanfic in any way I can.

**DISCLAIMER: Contra is a property Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; the Mario and Wario franchises belong to Nintendo. ****Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi is owned by Renegade Animation.** Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

Chapter 7: Almost to the end

_Mission 6: Chocolate Island  
With the Forest of Illusion safe from further damage, it was time to give chase to Axe Bomber and Purple Basilisk in return for the crime they committed last night. Since it's likely that they're ready for battle, we may have to split up to cover more ground.  
June 11, 20XX  
7:20 AM_

It was past dawn now, but to make it all the way to Axe Bomber's next castle, we couldn't keep holding on the Yoshi eggs we've been rescuing. Therefore, we did what we should have done last night: phoning Crygor Labs in Diamond City.

"Hello?" A young girl's voice answered, which I recognized as Penny Crygor's.

"Hey, Penny," I replied, "Sorry we haven't been in contact with you lately."

"Oh, that's okay! We're just recovering from what happened yesterday, while you were gone."

I became confused. "What happened?"

Penny sighed over the speaker. "It's a long story…but I'll explain when you get back from your vacation on Dinosaur Land."

"Actually…it's not much of a vacation anymore. I'll let Bill explain the situation at hand." I gave my cell phone to Bill, who would then fill Penny in on the details.

"Our vacation was pretty much cut short," he explained, "due to an attack by the Hate Bombers. We didn't have a clue about how they came back, but the thing is: they've taken over the island under Red Falcon's command."

Penny gasped at what she had just heard. "What?! He's back? But…but how?"

"At first, we've been told the enemy leader goes by the name Malicious Bomber, but the moment we saw the all-too-familiar Red Falcon insignia, we knew ahead of time that he was likely Red Falcon all along. However, I'm afraid we're gonna have to see it for ourselves to believe it. Oh and here's Ami."

Then Bill gave the phone to Ami, who was the next to speak up. "From what Blaze Bomber told us, Red Falcon took the name 'Malicious Bomber' so that none would ever suspect his revival until it was too late. Speaking of which…Blaze Bomber became brainwashed against his will long ago, and we had to fight him to free him."

Penny became shocked over the line. "Blaze Bomber?! I thought my grandpa said he's the Pyro-Maniacal Fiend, as of the Alien Wars!"

"We're led to believe that at first, but as it turned out, he wasn't really evil to begin with. Unfortunately, though, Red Falcon's giant Terminator-like robot named Robo-Corpse did a number on him. Long story, I know…but anyhow, here's Lance if you wanna talk to him." As soon as Ami finished explaining, she gave my phone to Lance.

"Overall, we're just calling to ask if you have the time to come over to Dinosaur Land and, y'know, aid us in any way you can." Lance paused momentarily to think of something helpful. "Like, say, look after the eggs containing Yoshi's trapped friends, and fix Blaze Bomber. We're outside the Forest of Illusion to the south, but we have to get moving. From the looks of things, our next destination is Chocolate Island."

Penny then replied, "If Red Falcon really is alive by some miracle, then we'll have to stop him by any means necessary. My grandpa and I will be at your current spot in about half an hour or so. We're taking an experimental helicopter, by the way. One more thing: we've just finished Aaron's Contra Rifle. I'll explain how it works by the time we get to your spot."

"Sounds good! We'll be careful. This is Aaron, Ami, Bill, and Lance of the Four Contras, signing off." Then Lance hung up, and gave my cell phone back to me. But suddenly, someone teleported in; Bill and Lance immediately recognized who it was: Sniper Bomber!

[Interlude BGM: Dark Terror (Advance Wars: Dual Strike)]

"Long time no see, Contras." Sniper Bomber chuckled sinisterly. "While I could kill you right here and now like Robo-Corpse did to Blaze Bomber, I would never rob my loyal second-in-command, Axe Bomber, of that pleasure. You may have survived the forest fire we had planned for killing you, but you can't hope to reach the Valley of Red Falcon, where our warlord resides. Should you live, I'll be waiting for you in my castle next door to Lord Red Falcon's, deep within the underworld region itself. Don't disappoint me, Contras!"

Ami glared at Sniper Bomber, remembering the time he killed her parents during the Alien Wars back in Japan. "How do we know you're not leading us right into a death trap?"

"Ahh, the delicate-as-ever Ami. I hear you acquired an ability to use bombs, but even those won't guarantee you a victory against Lord Red Falcon! So, I assume that guy next to you is the one Arctic Bomber held prisoner back at her castle, is that right? Heh heh…how she even made it as one of the Hate Bombers, I will never know. Her immaturity was bound to be her own undoing in the end, anyway. As for Blaze Bomber…yeah, I definitely should have killed him long after we had lost the Alien Wars to the likes of you. Still, I didn't expect you'd eventually free him from Lord Red Falcon's mind control."

"And yet you monsters 'rewarded' us by sending Robo-Corpse to severely wound him," I shouted, "just as he came to his senses for the first time in centuries! First, my parents were killed during the Alien Wars, and then my uncle died in a car accident a few years later…"

"Oh, spare me the drama, kiddo. You wanna know who killed your parents while I took on Ami and Yumi's? Well, that's for me to know, and you to find out! But like I said before, don't disappoint me, for people don't call me King of the Snipers for nothing!" With that, Sniper Bomber teleported out, leaving us to deal with hordes of alien soldiers occupying Chocolate Island.

[End BGM]

* * *

[Stage BGM: It's Time for Revenge (Contra ReBirth)]

We had no time to wait for Penny to arrive, so we devised a plan. Yoshi would stay put and guard his trapped friends well until the arrival, while the rest of us drive Red Falcon's forces out of Chocolate Island. Recalling from _Super Mario World_ once more, there was a shortcut through a Warp Pipe, which would lead to the next castle. Then we formulated a next step in our plan: Bill and Lance would travel through a Warp Pipe to an underground tunnel so they could prepare a surprise attack in our favor, while Ami and I launch a full-frontal assault across the surface. Before we split up, Bill gave me a laser rifle.

"You'll need it more than I do, Aaron," said Bill. "I conveniently found it in an armory closet aboard Purple Basilisk's warplane last night, while Lance set the time bomb to nuke it in return for setting the Forest of Illusion on fire."

"Thanks, Bill," I nodded. "That should really compensate for the lack of Contra-style power-ups, much less the Spread Gun. That is, until after Penny arrives with Dr. Crygor and gives me the Contra Rifle."

"I know how you feel, buddy," said Lance. "Its rate of fire isn't as quick as a machine gun's, but it makes up with tremendous firepower."

"From what I've seen," Ami added, "laser guns have a tendency to overheat if used repeatedly. I'll back Aaron up with my bombs if it ever happens."

"Yeah, at least until the rifle itself cools down enough for me to fire again." I took the laser rifle with gratitude, giving Bill and Lance a nod in return. "Now let's split up, and take it to 'em!"

We almost forgot about a Ghost House we had to traverse through first on Chocolate Island. While Ami was afraid of ghosts, she put that feeling aside and went on in with me, Bill, and Lance. We took care to watch out for Boos, Big Boos, and even Fishin' Boos (which acted like Lakitus, except they each carry a blue flame with their fishing hooks.) In another room, however, we glanced over at three odd-looking blocks, which were in fact "Block-Boos" when looking away. We used the opportunity to lure them into making a platform, before safely jumping on them to reach the exit.

As soon as we got back outside the Ghost House, we finally split into teams of two as planned. Bill and Lance ran to a Warp Pipe to get access to an underground tunnel, especially in case Purple Basilisk had a surprise ambush in mind. As for me and Ami, we thrust ourselves into battle against the alien soldiers on the surface, along with the robotic versions of Dino-Rhinos and Dino-Torches.

"A mission together at last, isn't it?" asked Ami.

"Yeah," I replied, "but we don't have time to think it over."

"I know. Our job's to get things done, as usual."

Nearly halfway through, we got attacked by an armored tank with six frontal cannons. Despite its dramatic entrance of firing a salvo of artillery shells, it didn't pose much of a threat as seen during the first level in _Contra III: The Alien Wars_. I simply unloaded with my laser rifle, while Ami electrified the tank with her Thunder Bombs until it malfunctioned and blew up, killing its driver inside. Then we glanced over and saw two anti-air flak cannons – possibly based on the Flakvierling from World War II, via stolen military technology – mounted on both sides. In fact, they were already firing on the Crygors' helicopter that was arriving on Dinosaur Land!

"We've got to hijack one of the AA cannons," I said, "destroy the other, and then blow it up!"

Then we waved our hands and shouted as loud as we could, eventually attracting the alien soldiers manning the AA cannons. We swerved about to avoid the flak, and reached the flak cannon itself to throw the enemies out into the ocean. After hijacking it, we fired at the other cannon situated on the opposite side of where we were. Once we blew it up, Ami set a pumped-up Fire Bomb before we bailed out. Its fiery, albeit normal, blast eventually took out the last AA cannon beyond repair. Penny and her grandfather were now safe to extract Yoshi and his trapped friends, and Blaze Bomber's damaged body.

When my cell phone rang, I answered. "Hello?"

"Guys," came Penny's voice, "it's me. We've just picked up your friends like you said…and thanks for blowing up those flak cannons that were firing on us. What now?"

"With the anti-air defenses down, you should be safe. Go all the way to Yoshi's Island, where the Contra Cruiser is. We'll let you know if we rescue more of our imprisoned friends. Oh, and don't forget to hand me the Contra Rifle before you leave Chocolate Island."

"Okay! But try to come back alive." Then Penny hung up.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bill and Lance were making good progress on their part. They had carefully moved their way across the underground tunnel with chocolate-like lava below. Suddenly, a giant spherical mech floated its way through; inside was Purple Basilisk himself!

"The time has come for you to join our fallen soldiers in hell!" Purple Basilisk announced. "Let's see you try and cheat death like you did last night!"

"You know we're gonna stop you, Basilisk," Lance said dryly.

The humanoid snake went back inside his mech to power it up, with four spear-like arms protruding from its center. Then it thrust its spears toward Bill and Lance in an effort to stab them. They were quick to dodge the attacks, thankful for their years of guerrilla training. Afterwards, they joined shooting the spear-like arms with throwing frag grenades to inflict damage. With at least one of the arms destroyed, Purple Basilisk changed his attack pattern by moving his spherical mech around. His next move was to wound Bill and Lance by dragging the mech's arms throughout the ground (while leaving trails of sparks in the process). Even so, the two Contras repeated the process of blasting the arms until the mech had no more.

Purple Basilisk was angry now. "That's it! You've gone and worked up my last nerve!"

Forced to change his attack pattern one last time, he banged his mech repeatedly against the floor and ceiling in hopes of crushing his enemies. He teleported after each attack to try it again, hoping he would succeed. As for Bill and Lance, they eventually took out the mech after a few close calls.

"Nooo!" Purple Basilisk cursed, his mech shorting out. "I won't go to hell at a time like this!" Unfortunately, for him, he could not escape his spherical mech in time before it exploded, killing him inside. His death scream was all that was heard over the explosion before it faded into deep silence.

"Now that he's gone for good," said Bill, "we need to rendezvous with Aaron and Ami, so we can take on Axe Bomber together."

[End BGM]

* * *

Later that morning, Penny stopped by to give me the holy-powered Contra Rifle for my very own. It sported a sky blue hue with a dark blue button on top. Like with Ami's Bomberman Watch, it also had an on/off switch next to the button, which functioned as a safety catch for the rifle. While similar to that of Bill and Lance's M16 machine guns, it was modified to carry two weapons at once. By pressing the dark blue button, the user could switch between the two weapon slots. Penny handed me the Spread Gun and Homing Missile power-ups for my rifle to set an example of how the button worked. Whenever my gun's switch was off, any power-ups acquired were rejected, and no shots would be fired either. While my Contra Rifle, along with Ami's Bomberman Watch, could never harm the innocent, the on/off switch was intended to set an example that guns _can and will kill anyone_, especially in the event that even an accidental gunshot within range of a combustible substance (i.e. a fuel tank) can prove disastrous.

The next step in Penny's tutorial, was to give me a detachable sling to put on the bottom of the rifle; that way, it can be held on my back whenever I'm either climbing my way through, or not using it. Although the Crygors did not have time to implement a barrier feature for both my Contra Rifle and Ami's Bomberman Watch, Penny warned me that getting hit once - like in the _Contra_ games - would take away only the weapon I'm using, reverting it back to its default machine gun. She added in another friendly warning: while the Contra Rifle was waterproof, it certainly wasn't _lava-proof_.

When the explanation was over, Penny took off for Dinosaur Land with Dr. Crygor aboard their helicopter. Meanwhile, Ami and I trekked through a mini-fortress, tangling with four rhino-like statues known only as the Reznors at the end. While their fireballs didn't pose much of a threat, the bridge that their wall-mounted, rotating platform above was rigged to collapse when only two Reznors remained. Nevertheless, Ami and I made it out alive to attack Axe Bomber's castle, which was stationed next to the now-crumbled mini-fotress. We went through a series of dodging buzzsaws and blasting alien soldiers along the way, eventually arriving at Axe Bomber's lair. It composed of an evenly made row of closed pipes for a bridge over a pool of lava. This time, he wasn't planning on playing cat and mouse anymore.

[Boss BGM: Darknut Battle (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)]

"My, aren't you persistent!" he said. "There was no way you would've survived or escaped that explosion at my earlier castle! But, I guess you're not wimps compared to Bill and Lance after all. We've all had such good fun playing cat and mouse, but you're starting to bore me…" He paused to transform his metallic hands into axes, to emphasize the drama. "And I'm afraid playtime is over! Even your planet's strongest man-made weapon, much less an armor-piercing artillery shell, could not penetrate my armor!"

"Nothing," I said, eventually becoming rebuttal, "except your own axe hands!"

"Or perhaps our holy-powered gadgets," agreed Ami.

"Ha! Don't even think I'm stupid enough to fall for the old 'get-me-to-attack-myself' trick that easy! The Heavy-Duty Chopper of the Hate Bombers is back in business, and ready to hit hard!"

Bellowing like a barbarian, Axe Bomber charged forth with his axe hands, intent on ripping and tearing us apart. We were quick to avoid the attack, but we did not see some Podoboos (fireballs that jump up from the lava) leaping toward us, inflicting burning damage. Ami, however, shook them off with her Ice Bombs before we suffered any degree burns to our bodies. I, however, held my Contra Rifle on my back with its detachable sling, so as to not lose my Spread Gun and/or Homing Missiles. Then I returned fire with my laser rifle, only to inflict little to no damage to Axe Bomber's armor. Then Ami followed up by throwing a pumped-up Fire Bomb at him. He raised his axe hands to use as shields, but even they didn't stop Ami's bomb from blowing up on him.

"OW!" Axe Bomber yelped. "That burns!"

"Too bad your seemingly impenetrable armor doesn't protect you from my holy-powered bombs," said Ami, "since fire melts steel!"

"Oh yeah?! You're gonna have to do better than that to kill me!" Then the large Hate Bomber transformed his axe hands back to normal, and swatted both me and Ami away from each other. When he came to my direction, he kicked my laser rifle away over the edge of the closed pipes, causing it to fall into the lava. He stomped on my gut before re-arming his deadly ax blades once more, but my Contra Rifle was seemingly undamaged.

"Hmm, now where have I seen that before?" Axe Bomber wondered. "Ahhh, yes! That man in Diamond City looked the same way during the Alien Wars, before I killed him…and then his wife, too! And judging by what I saw in that family photo of theirs, you must be their only son. Yeah, that's right…an elephant never forgets!"

I became shocked with both fear and anger, that Axe Bomber would do something like this. But why he would target only my parents and not anybody else, I will never know at the moment. He looked closer to my face, expecting me to succumb to my rage. However, I resisted the urge to do so, even after what he and Purple Basilisk did to the Forest of Illusion last night.

"Hey, Axe-head…" I weakly responded, "you ever read _The Odyssey_ before?"

"What the hell are you blabbering about?!" Axe Bomber retorted, still keeping his foot on me.

"There's this one part…where before Odysseus blinded the Cyclops…by poking his eye out…" I merely acted like I was dying, in order to distract Axe Bomber from what I was about to do. "…he told him that his name…"

Then I reached for my Contra Rifle on my back, pulling it out to aim at his one reddish-orange eye. "…_was Nobody_!" I emphasized the last word by shooting him in his eye with my Spread Gun, thus blinding him, freeing myself in the process.

"AAAAAAHH!" Axe Bomber screamed. "MY EYE! I CAN'T SEE!"

I called out to my pink-haired best friend, "Ami, NOW!"

While Axe Bomber was blind, he swung his axe hands wildly, and accidentally cut open his own armor to expose his energy core inside. Then Ami hurled a barrage of Fire Bombs at him, while I backed her up with my Spread Gun. He came flailing blindly at either of us, but due to being attacked by our holy-powered gadgets, he eventually lost his balance and fell into the lava below.

He screamed once again, "GYAAAAAAAAGH! Those new Contras have tricked me! My energy core's overheating from contact with the lava! I'm gonna…" Before he could finish his sentence, he detonated in a large explosion, thus triggering an internal eruption from the lava. That was our cue to shoot the cage open with a few shots from my Homing Missiles, thus freeing two more of Yoshi's trapped friends in the end.

[End BGM]

Then Bill and Lance arrived just as we got out of Axe Bomber's lair, and helped us escape before the eruption destroyed the castle. From what we just saw, we assumed Axe Bomber must have booby-trapped the place before our arrival.

"Sorry we're late," said Bill, "we ran into Purple Basilisk in that underground tunnel along the way."

Lance checked me and Ami for injuries. "You look wounded. Are you two alright?"

We both nodded, glad that Bill and Lance arrived in time to help us escape to safety. With Dinosaur Land just about free of Red Falcon's reign of terror, we called Penny and her grandfather to come pick up the next two friends of Yoshi's, and we would rest up before going into the Valley of Red Falcon, in the underworld. Only Sniper Bomber and his leader remained, but there was only one Yoshi egg left for us to secure.

TO BE CONTINUED…

* * *

I told you it was a long chapter. But who knows? The concluding chapter might be a bit longer, or just as long as this one was.


	9. Battle in the underworld

Final chapter's here! And boy, am I glad I managed to finish it after a few or so occasions of writer's block and whatnot. More importantly, I'm finishing DCC #1 before the end of the year 2012. It's just that, the reason I took about a week or two to finish this final chapter is because I was spending holiday season with my family and relatives. As always, enjoy, as in R&R!

**DISCLAIMER: Contra belongs to Konami, whereas Bomberman is still owned by Hudson Soft despite Konami's permanent takeover; Super Mario World, WarioWare Inc., and Super Smash Bros. are owned by Nintendo. ****Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, on the other hand, is a property of Renegade Animation.** Any songs "used" throughout the course of this fanfic are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

Chapter 8: Battle in the underworld

[Stage BGM: Go Forward Under Fire (Contra III: The Alien Wars)]

Dinosaur Land was now free at last, with most of Red Falcon's forces swept out of the picture. But only his underworld hideout remained unexplored by the likes of us. In fact, just by looking at a stone statue of Red Falcon's ugly face (located at the center of Dinosaur Land's ocean) gave us further, undeniable proof he was alive…if Bill and Lance ever did see him again in person. All thoughts aside, Bill, Lance, Ami, and I took a quick rest to heal our wounds. Afterwards, we went for a swim towards a sunken ghost ship, while Penny and her grandpa, along with Yoshi, awaited our safe return. Recalling one last time from _Super Mario World_, only by reaching a green globe-life artifact at the very bottom of the ghost ship would the gateway to the final area open. We had made certain to avoid the Boos that popped in now and then (not to mention find some air bubbles to use so we wouldn't drown underwater), and reached our goal. Upon touching the globe, we were instantly teleported into the underworld itself…

_Mission 7: The Valley of Red Falcon  
This is it: the final showdown to determine the fate of Dinosaur Land. Needless to say, defeating Red Falcon won't be as easy as it sounds. But, we just might slow down his true resurrection if Ami and I can utilize what we have in store, let alone our holy-powered weapons themselves…  
June 11, 20XX  
9:45 AM_

"Whoa…" Ami wondered. "Could this be what hell really looks like?"

"I know that feeling, Ami," answered Bill. "You see the rocky stalactites on the ceiling far above us? We're looking at hell. Trust me, Lance and I have been there."

"Hell or not," I added, "this has to be Red Falcon's underworld hideout. But needless to say, he and Sniper Bomber are hiding somewhere."

"As long as there aren't any lava pits," said Lance, "we should be okay. However, there are bound to be alien Xenomorphs and the like, that Bill and I fought off 5 years ago."

"That, I'm not too surprised," I nodded. "I mean, the _Contra_ games usually end with an alien-like stage where Red Falcon's demonic minions come out to attack."

We merely cut our conversation short as hordes of Xenomorphs charged towards us in an attack formation. Knowing what they were capable of in the _Alien_ movies, we made sure not to get close when killing them so their acidic blood wouldn't splatter onto our flesh, since we didn't even have body armor to begin with. Then we saw a bunch of mouth-like creatures, known for spitting red, flesh-seeking spiked balls towards intruders. Ami blew them to guts with her Fire Bombs, while I backed her up with my Spread Gun. Bill and Lance, on the other hand, watched our backs and took out the aliens sneaking up behind us with their AK-47s. Elsewhere, a stationary group of alien eggs released some facehuggers, which we made short work of along with the eggs themselves.

* * *

Meanwhile, at one of the two neighboring castles, Sniper Bomber was standing on a rooftop with the final Yoshi egg as his prisoner. The moment he noticed our presence, he readied his sniper rifle arm. _I suppose even Axe Bomber didn't have the chops to kill the likes of them,_ he thought. _Obviously, if I want the so-called "Four Contras" dead, I'll have to make them dead myself._

Without hesitation, Sniper Bomber opened fire from a long distance. This got our attention; Bill and Lance pushed me and Ami out of the way just before we all took a hit. It was merely a close shave, but we were uninjured. We kept moving throughout the Valley of Red Falcon, killing the aliens and avoiding Sniper Bomber's distant shots along the way. Half an hour later, we reached his castle, but instead of going inside, we climbed the walls to reach the roof. And reach the rooftop we did.

"We've got you cornered, Sniper Bomber!" I shouted.

"You can't run any further!" Ami added.

"I knew you'd say that," said Sniper Bomber. "But even I learned my lesson from my first fight against Bill and Lance!"

He transformed his sniper rifle arm into a flak cannon, and taunted, "Look, I've revealed my right arm's weakness! Shoot its inside!"

But we had a feeling he was up to something, and held back from opening fire. "What?! Aren't you gonna wreck my gun arm beyond repair? Ah, screw it!" He threw a punch at his own arm with his left hand, only to be deflected by a force field. "I suppose you're not as stupid as you look. You see, I installed a force field system on my interchangeable arm, to insure it won't ever be damaged so easily again. However, it has to turn off every time I shoot…but that's all the explanation you'll get from me! You want that last friend of Yoshi's? You'll have to fight me _and_ Lord Red Falcon for it! We've waited close to those five long years for this very moment!"

Then he summoned a big, winged silver dragon-like alien, which looked a bit less like the Xenomorph. In fact, Bill and Lance recognized it as the same creature they fought inside Red Falcon's Hate Nest during the Alien Wars. Sniper Bomber called it the "Metal Alien", and got on its back for a ride. But just before he flew off, we hitched a ride on the Metal Alien's pointy tail, gripping as tight as we could to avoid falling off. Upon arriving at Red Falcon's castle's rooftop, we got off. Then we saw the alien warmonger himself…but not what we would expect. He was wearing a dark, metallic armor with a red cape, his helmet bearing two demonic horns atop.

[End BGM]

* * *

[Interlude BGM: Rukifellth's Theme (Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!)]

"Ahh…" said Red Falcon. "Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, we meet again after such a long time. And you've indeed brought two of your new friends for my coming-out party! You do remember me, don't you?"

"Yeah," said Bill, "but not like this."

"What's been going on since your demise?" demanded Lance.

"You two _did_ defeat me back then, but you didn't ultimately _kill_ me. I was reduced to my brain-like form, and yet I survived by a miracle when my Hate Nest blew up. For the next five years, I couldn't do anything, until I found Purple Basilisk incarcerated in an underworld cell, which he believed to be your doing."

"Well, we did stop him about a few months after the Alien Wars…He was planning on retribution, but we foiled just that."

"We made a pact with the Devil to make us, the Red Falcon Empire, whole again…but only on one condition: that we conquer the world in his place. Purple Basilisk was then provided the tools necessary for constructing this dark armor you see before your very eyes. Nothing can ever penetrate my armor, except for the one power that resembles the polar opposite of hell itself. Yes…I sense the power you carry in your blood…Aaron and Ami. You, along with Bill and Lance, are indeed descended from the three accursed ancestors of yours, who destroyed my four generals' old bodies and imprisoned me. Don't believe me? You'll have all the time you need to brush up on your own history when you're dead. Once I rule the world, my true body will be resurrected as promised in the pact, and I'll no longer need this armor. We'll become invincible!"

Then Sniper Bomber butted in, still riding the Metal Alien. "You ready, Contras? I've been brushing up on my skills double-time, since Lord Red Falcon used his newly-gained dark powers to revive me and my comrades! Welcome to hell's 9th circle! Population: all four of you, and eventually Blaze Bomber, who I'm sure is suffering for defying us!"

"You leave Blaze Bomber out of this!" shouted Ami. "He was probably wrongly sent there after his first death because he was considered 'evil' at the time!"

I joined in, "And now he's dead again, this time because of you and Red Falcon. We will avenge him!"

"We don't expect you to understand what I told you," said Red Falcon, "so we'll just have to force the issue. When we're through, not a single strand of your DNA will remain! But then again, you're already fated to be dead anyway!"

[End BGM]  
[Final battle BGM: Final Boss Fight – Rudy the Clown (Wario Land 3)]

Then he used his dark powers to enlarge his metallic, humanoid armor, until he was ten times bigger than us. Afterwards, he jumped off the rooftop and landed on the ground, causing a shockwave that toppled us over. We got up, and picked up the Yoshi egg before it fell off. While I aimed for Red Falcon's head with my Spread Gun, Ami kicked a barrage of holy-powered Fire Bombs at his body. Unfortunately, the combined attacks only did little damage.

"Are those supposed to faze me now?" taunted Red Falcon. "Such insignificant tactics. You'll have to do better than that to defeat me!"

Sniper Bomber joined in, with the Metal Alien lunging forth and swiping its claws about. "You better think fast, Contras, because here I come!" He fired his carefully-timed shots to inflict pain on us, but thankfully not in the vital spot guaranteed to kill us. With my current power-up reverted back to the default machine gun, I switched over to my Homing Missiles and returned fire by shooting at the Metal Alien's head, while Ami blasted its wings off with her Fire Bombs. It screeched in pain at its wings being burnt off, forced to crash-land on the rooftop, sending Sniper Bomber hurtling towards a wall.

"Grrr!" He glared angrily, recovering from the impact. "You insolent bipeds are gonna wish you hadn't done that!"

"Aaron! Ami!" Lance called out. "Bill and I will distract Sniper Bomber and the Metal Alien. You have to figure out a way to destroy Red Falcon's dark armor!"

I, however, had doubt on what we were to do. "But our holy-powered weapons barely did anything! And holy is supposed to be hell's bane, right?"

"We just have to try harder, Aaron!" said Ami. "We might have to pray for hope!"

"Praying will get you nowhere in this realm!" Red Falcon taunted, launching his fists like missiles. We were nearly smashed against the floor, and the fist returned to its owner. Given his size, one hit from either of his rocket fists would be fatal on our end. Eventually, after a few more turns of dodging rocket fists and trying to inflict damage on Red Falcon's dark armor, Ami and I came to a realization: maybe we _can still_ inflict damage by using his own armor's fists against him. It may not be enough to take out the whole thing, but it just might stun him long enough for us to pray for hope to come aid us. Meanwhile, since Bill and Lance were busy distracting Sniper Bomber and the Metal Alien to the best of their abilities (despite getting injured now and then), Ami and I didn't have too much on our hands.

"Dammit!" Sniper Bomber cursed. "Hold still, so I can kill you!"

Bill smirked. "Well, that's just too bad. Consider your Metal Alien's breakfast skipped."

"Oh, that is so lame. Still, flattery will get you and your buddy nowhere!"

Meanwhile, Red Falcon stayed on the offensive. "How does it feel like to get squashed?" The alien warmonger fired his rocket fists some more, but Ami and I were ready for it. We had gulped down a shared can full of spinach, giving us the Popeye-style strength we need to force his own detachable fists back at him. We grabbed ahold of them, and threw them at his face with all our might, inflicting damage. Red Falcon shook it off, and combined his rocket fists with two other attacks: shooting laser beams from his visor, and launching lightning bolts from the horns atop his helmet. We were hurt (and my Homing Missiles reverted back to the default machine gun), but quick enough to avoid taking more damage. Unfortunately, though, the attacks had destroyed the green globe we obtained from the sunken ghost ship, thus cutting off our only means of escape. While Bill and Lance eventually took out Sniper Bomber and the Metal Alien, Ami and I threw the metallic fists back at Red Falcon once more, finally stunning him.

"Red Falcon's stunned!" said Bill. "Now's our chance!"

But Sniper Bomber got up to taunt, "What can you hope for, if you expect to destroy my leader? Your only way of getting out is gone…but Axe Bomber and I will still be waiting for you in hell…" As soon as he spoke his last words, he shorted out before dying in an ensuing explosion.

I turned to Bill and Lance afterwards. "Thanks for lending us a hand back there."

"Yeah," nodded Lance, "but what _can_ help us destroy Red Falcon's evil armor if both your gadget and Ami's can't do jack crap?"

Despite being at a disadvantage against Red Falcon, we didn't stop ourselves from praying for hope. Eventually, a mysterious orb appeared, floating before us. Recognized from _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ as a "Smash Ball", it was said to grant anybody who broke it, a "Final Smash" that reflected his or her own personality. Half the time, it took up a lot of energy for its user to unleash a Final Smash attack, for if it was not timed right, the user would be left defenseless for a short period of time in a heated battle. Hoping the orb would make our Contra Rifle and Bomberman Watch stronger, Ami and I broke it simultaneously while Red Falcon was still stunned. We became encased with a rainbow aura-like glow (albeit an unusual case since only one was allowed at a time), and utilized Final Smash attacks of our own without delay.

"Ancestors of us, the Four Contras," Ami's voice echoed throughout the underworld, "grant us the only power capable of destroying this evil being's dark armor!" Then a white-colored bomb appeared floating in her hands, with a golden halo surrounding its lit fuse. "HOLY BOMB!"

Then my Contra Rifle shone brightly, as I called out: "CHARGE SHOT!" At the same time, I fired a large laser beam from my gun, whereas Ami threw her aptly-named Holy Bomb with amazing grace. As we began our combined move, Red Falcon regained consciousness. But before he could attack again, the charged laser beam and the bomb blasted him in the face, engulfing his dark armor in a brightening explosion. A minute nearly passed, as his armor began cracking like a mirror, until it finally shattered apart into nothingness; thus his appearance became reverted back to his giant, one-eyed brain form.

[End BGM]

"URRRRRGH!" Red Falcon grunted. "Argh…you really do maintain your ancestors' bloodline after all, don't you…but it doesn't matter. With that teleportation globe of yours gone, you'll never leave here alive! You four have lost!"

He used the last of his power to cause the Valley of Red Falcon to collapse, before disappearing into another area of the underworld. He would continue his personal vendetta another day. With no means of escape anymore, we could only sit and hold each other's hands tightly, with the Yoshi egg at the center of our circle. Ami and I were breathing heavily due to the Final Smash attacks we just used to obliterate Red Falcon's dark armor.

"I guess this is it…" I said. "It's been an honor fighting alongside the three of you…"

"We're not licked yet…" replied Ami. "I think we can still get out…I see a star-like teleporter at the bottom."

Bill snapped his fingers in response. "Ahh, of course. These Star Roads are said to take people anywhere, via Star World." Not one to leave a fellow soldier behind, he put his arm around my shoulder for support, so I wouldn't fall over during our escape.

"Well then," said Lance, supporting Ami by the shoulder in the same manner as Bill, "let's make one last 'cutting-it-close' departure, posthaste!"

* * *

[Ending BGM: Return in Glory (Contra III: The Alien Wars)]

In a last-ditch effort to get out, we climbed down the walls of Red Falcon's castle, and stepped on the Star Road. Along the way, Bill and Lance gave me and Ami support so we didn't fall off. We were all teleported out of the doomed Valley of Red Falcon to Star World just before the teleporter dissipated from the damaging impact. Now on safe ground in this extra-dimensional area, we took a walk towards another Star Road, eventually returning to Donut Plains on the surface of Dinosaur Land. As we returned back to Yoshi's Island, we witnessed the statue of Red Falcon's face crumbling into small rocks. Once again, the Red Falcon Empire was defeated, at least for now…

For the rest of our now-recovered vacation on Dinosaur Land, Yoshi was happy to see all seven of his captured friends, having hatched out of their eggs. Meanwhile, we helped them repair the damage to the Twin Bridges that Robo-Corpse caused the other day, while Penny got to work restoring Blaze Bomber back to life by rebuilding his body. We even got in the act of restoring the Forest of Illusion back to its former glory, making note that while it only takes a short time for a forest fire to destroy the trees, it would take a long time to grow them back. Saving the world is one thing, but more importantly, we'd need to protect the environment for generations to come, even if it meant protecting it from those who would either destroy it by any means necessary, or even abuse its natural resources for their own personal gain.

Although Ami and I discovered our Final Smash attacks, we weren't surprised if Bill and Lance would eventually discover theirs in due time. Perhaps even Blaze Bomber, but for now, we learned that we could only use a Final Smash as a last resort, concluding that doing so in any case shuts off the Contra Rifle and/or the Bomberman Watch in order for either one to recharge. This has yet to be tested in detail, but we could safely assume it's to prevent a possible overcharge, which could cause our holy-powered gadgets to explode.

When the fourth day came, our vacation on Dinosaur Land was over. We bid farewell to Yoshi and all of his friends, whereas they thanked us for saving their home from the clutches of the Red Falcon Empire. We flew all the way back to Diamond City, California (in the United States) via the Contra Cruiser and the Crygors' experimental helicopter. Along the way, we took a glance at Blaze Bomber, who was sitting in the back seat with me and Ami. He was happy to be free from evil's reign over his mind and soul, and willing to repay his debt by supporting us in any way he can. He was no longer a Hate Bomber, much less one of Red Falcon's generals to begin with, but rather a normal Bomberman with fire powers.

THE END

(Ending Credits)  
Aaron (me) – MYSELF  
Ami – JANICE KAWAYE  
Bill Rizer – BOB BUCHHOLZ  
Lance Bean – SYLVESTER STALLONE  
Yoshi – KAZUMI TOTAKA  
Penny Crygor – JANICE KAWAYE  
Red Falcon – RICK MAY  
Sniper Bomber – SCOTT MCNEIL  
Axe Bomber – ALVIN SANDERS  
Blaze Bomber – SCOTT MENVILLE  
Arctic Bomber – GREY DELISLE  
Purple Basilisk – STEVEN JAY BLUM  
Robo-Corpse – BRIAN DOBSON  
Robot thug – MICHAEL DOBSON

[End Credits]

At the end of our flight back to Diamond City, we landed in front of Wario's house, with Wario and his friends cheering for our return. We assumed Penny called up and told them of our mission to save Dinosaur Land from Red Falcon and his alien army. Bill, Lance, Ami, and I stepped outside our Contra Cruiser to raise our arms in victory, proud to have fought for peace and justice. But, what did happen with Wario and the others while we were gone? Only a few, let alone Penny, were brave enough to tell us the story…

[End BGM]

**"Contra" is the name given to those elite warriors with an indomitable spirit and superior guerrilla tactics.  
**

TO BE CONTINUED IN DIAMOND CITY CHRONICLES #2…

* * *

Here's to yet another new year, especially on FanFiction. Needless to say, it's better to have gotten a fanfic done a few or so months late than to have never finished it at all...or something like that. I know I can't keep every promise I make, since I'm only an average joe compared to tons of other talented writers on this site, but still. Anyhow, I'll see you next time! =)


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